Pomegranate

A grayish quality behind the color: alone
this should tell you it’s wiser
than your need for nourishment.
A thing more compelling
than any fruit before or since, and yet
that hollow cracking sound
is not a delving into, but a wresting open
of the nest that would be undisturbed,
seeds scattering like nerves. And what’s this
bitter wall
rewards hide behind?
It’s humiliating to pick, dig, gather, try
to get as much as you can
as often as you can
but forced to go slow.
It doesn’t feed you,
does it?